Warren wilbur burial site

Wilbur shaw plane crash
Wilbur shaw jr
Wilbur Shaw is one of the most important people in the history of American auto racing, not only for his accomplishments on the race track.

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WILBUR SHAW
(October 31, 1902 - October 30, 1954)

WILBUR SHAW KILLED
VICTIM OF PLANE CRASH.
October 1954

(AP) -- WILBUR SHAW, 52, president of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway and three-time winner of the 500-mile
race, and two companions were killed in a plane crash
near Decatur Indiana late today.

The light plane exploded and crashed in a field as a farmer
watched nearby. State police and Sheriff ROBERT W.
SHRALUKA said the bodies were ground to bits in the
wreckage.

SHAW was identified by a cred

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Wilbur Shaw

American racing driver (1902–1954)

Wilbur Shaw

Shaw on the cover of El Gráfico magazine, 1940

Born

Warren Wilbur Shaw
(1902-10-31)October 31, 1902
Shelbyville, Indiana, U.S.

Died

October 30, 1954(1954-10-30) (aged 51)
Decatur, Indiana, U.S.

AAAChampionship Car (1937, 1939)
Major victories
Indianapolis 500 (1937, 1939, 1940)

38 races run over 15 years

Best finish

1st (1937, 1939)

First race

1927Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

Last race

1941Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

First win

1929 Syracuse 100 (Syracuse)

Last win

1940Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)

Wins	Podiums	Poles
6	12	1

Warren Wilbur Shaw (October 31, 1902 – October 30, 1954) was an American racing driver. The second three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (1937, 1939 and 1940), he is also remembered for serving as president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1945 until his death in 1954.

Early life

Shaw was born in Shelbyville, Indiana on October 31, 1902.^[1]

Racing career

Shaw first pa

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Warren Wilbur Shaw at age 5 won his first race riding a goat at the county fair. He would go on to become one of the greatest open-wheel racers in history, winning the Indianapolis 500 three times and helping save the Speedway from being sold as an industrial park after World War II.

Wilbur started racing in the early 1920's and finished fourth in his first try at Indianapolis. In 1931 he drove a Duesenberg over the third turn wall, wiping out the car. Suffering only bruises, Shaw later relieved the driver of an identical team car. Competitors were stunned when Shaw's "ghost" passed them again in turn three, this time staying on the track.

The turning point in his career came in 1936 when he decided that ownership of his cars was key to winning the annual classic. After placing seventh in that year's "500", leading in a dominant role, he returned to win in 1937.

Impressed with the European machinery at the Roosevelt Raceway revivals of the Vanderbilt Cup, he persuaded Mike Boyle, A Chicago industrialist, to sponsor a Maserati, which was altered for the Speedway, with everything